Hybrid Blog

The Chicago Public School system is broke. By now you know the score: pension promises cannot be met and union salaries and benefits are out of line with reality. Combined with bloated administration costs, the system is bankrupt.

The Sun Times says the best hope is for teachers to accept a wage freeze.

Best Hope? Not so fast.

The contract is not up until 2012, and knowing what we know about unions, the picture is set for massive teacher layoffs or a gut wrenching strike and legal battle if the CEO unilaterally imposes a wage freeze.

Please consider No way around CPS teacher pay freeze.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman on Thursday painted the grimmest financial picture the Chicago schools have ever seen.

The budget deficit could top $900 million, a hole so big that Huberman says he needs major concessions from teachers — a move that could easily lead to a teachers’ strike if the unions refuse to play ball.

We’re not alerting parents to cause a panic or to bash beleaguered teachers.

We’re alerting parents now, when there’s still time, to try to resolve this crisis and avoid a strike.

The best hope is for the Chicago teachers to accept a wage freeze.

Huberman can’t say that out loud. On Thursday, he simply laid out the sorry facts of the deficit, saying concessions are one piece of a multi-part solution. He’s courting the unions now, giving them a chance to pick their poison, hoping they’ll offer up cost-saving ideas.

It is nearly impossible to see a way out of this mess — or a teachers’ strike — without a wage freeze.

The Chicago Teachers Union contract locks in 4 percent raises through 2012 — really about 5.5 percent with experience and higher degrees added in. Eliminating that raise in 2011 saves $135 million.

Undoubtedly, the union will balk at a wage freeze. Already, Union President Marilyn Stewart has rejected altering the union contract.

In turn, Huberman won’t budge, arguing he has no cash to spare — and he won’t be lying.

CPS’ massive budget deficit, Huberman says, is driven by three biggies: a $138 million drop in tax revenue, $135 million in increased salary costs and, most significantly, a $280 million increase in its pension bill.

Ron Huberman isn’t crying wolf.

It’s time for big concessions now — rather than face massive disruption in the schools and an ugly and fruitless strike down the road.

Not Crying Wolf

The article is loaded with sap like the writer’s opinion “No one wants to deny hard-working teachers a raise.” In reality, union salaries and benefits must be brought into alignment with private sector jobs.

The wolf is real. There is no money and tax hikes are out of the question. With 4 percent raises locked in through 2012, one hell of a battle is brewing.

In theory, there are plenty of things besides a pay freeze that could help. One thing would be elimination of defined benefit plans for all new hires and if one got really creative, for all teachers hired in the last 5 years. Of course one could also cut administrative salaries and staff as well.

Both need to be done.

However, theory is one thing and practice is another. Unions being unions, and administrators being administrators, neither will be willing to negotiate a fair compromise. Instead, look for massive teacher layoffs as the union and administrators throw the kids to the howling wolves.

By the way, I am not talking about just Chicago. Expect to witness a nationwide phenomenon of teachers unions and administrators combine to throw kids to the wolves to protect their own cushy jobs.

Addendum:

“LA Girl” just pinged me with …

I sat next to a public school teacher at a dinner party last night. He was saying there is total “war” going on at his school right now because they are voting on whether to convert to a charter school. He blatantly, casually said with no shame whatsoever that converting to charter would be better for the students, but he planned to vote against it because it wasn’t clear his benefits and salary would be protected. He said this same thing is going on at several other public elementary and high schools in L.A.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

The Chicago Public School system is broke. By now you know the score: pension promises cannot be met and union salaries and benefits are out of line with reality. Combined with bloated administration costs, the system is bankrupt.

The Sun Times says the best hope is for teachers to accept a wage freeze.

Best Hope? Not so fast.

The contract is not up until 2012, and knowing what we know about unions, the picture is set for massive teacher layoffs or a gut wrenching strike and legal battle if the CEO unilaterally imposes a wage freeze.

Please consider No way around CPS teacher pay freeze.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman on Thursday painted the grimmest financial picture the Chicago schools have ever seen.

The budget deficit could top $900 million, a hole so big that Huberman says he needs major concessions from teachers — a move that could easily lead to a teachers’ strike if the unions refuse to play ball.

We’re not alerting parents to cause a panic or to bash beleaguered teachers.

We’re alerting parents now, when there’s still time, to try to resolve this crisis and avoid a strike.

The best hope is for the Chicago teachers to accept a wage freeze.

Huberman can’t say that out loud. On Thursday, he simply laid out the sorry facts of the deficit, saying concessions are one piece of a multi-part solution. He’s courting the unions now, giving them a chance to pick their poison, hoping they’ll offer up cost-saving ideas.

It is nearly impossible to see a way out of this mess — or a teachers’ strike — without a wage freeze.

The Chicago Teachers Union contract locks in 4 percent raises through 2012 — really about 5.5 percent with experience and higher degrees added in. Eliminating that raise in 2011 saves $135 million.

Undoubtedly, the union will balk at a wage freeze. Already, Union President Marilyn Stewart has rejected altering the union contract.

In turn, Huberman won’t budge, arguing he has no cash to spare — and he won’t be lying.

CPS’ massive budget deficit, Huberman says, is driven by three biggies: a $138 million drop in tax revenue, $135 million in increased salary costs and, most significantly, a $280 million increase in its pension bill.

Ron Huberman isn’t crying wolf.

It’s time for big concessions now — rather than face massive disruption in the schools and an ugly and fruitless strike down the road.

Not Crying Wolf

The article is loaded with sap like the writer’s opinion “No one wants to deny hard-working teachers a raise.” In reality, union salaries and benefits must be brought into alignment with private sector jobs.

The wolf is real. There is no money and tax hikes are out of the question. With 4 percent raises locked in through 2012, one hell of a battle is brewing.

In theory, there are plenty of things besides a pay freeze that could help. One thing would be elimination of defined benefit plans for all new hires and if one got really creative, for all teachers hired in the last 5 years. Of course one could also cut administrative salaries and staff as well.

Both need to be done.

However, theory is one thing and practice is another. Unions being unions, and administrators being administrators, neither will be willing to negotiate a fair compromise. Instead, look for massive teacher layoffs as the union and administrators throw the kids to the howling wolves.

By the way, I am not talking about just Chicago. Expect to witness a nationwide phenomenon of teachers unions and administrators combine to throw kids to the wolves to protect their own cushy jobs.

Addendum:

“LA Girl” just pinged me with …

I sat next to a public school teacher at a dinner party last night. He was saying there is total “war” going on at his school right now because they are voting on whether to convert to a charter school. He blatantly, casually said with no shame whatsoever that converting to charter would be better for the students, but he planned to vote against it because it wasn’t clear his benefits and salary would be protected. He said this same thing is going on at several other public elementary and high schools in L.A.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Here is an interesting Email from “Ticket Salesman”, a former CEO of an industrial supply company who saw the debacle coming and cashed out a few years back. To keep busy, not out of necessity, he is now involved in concert ticket sales.

“Ticket Salesman” writes:

Hi Mish

I don’t care what the media says, the economy is getting worse and I can see it in ticket sales and even questions about tickets.

Last February, most of my ticket sales were requesting “Best available” and big concerts sold out within days or weeks, typically a month or more before the concert. Concerts sold out from the front (highest ticket price) to the back.

By mid summer, I began to notice that the buying was changing. Concerts sold from the front and from the back but the middle seats were selling last. I have only voices to gauge age but it seems to me that the 40-55 crowd had begun to disappear.

By early fall, the cheap seats were selling out first. This pattern started first in Chicago, spread throughout the midwest, then over to the Carolinas, south to Florida and across to Arizona.

Since December, the most often question that I get is “If I buy at the venue, do I have to pay the service charge?”

Ticket agents charge a ticket fee of 10-15% on each ticket and a year ago I never had a single complaint or a question about the ticket fee.

If you are buying 6 tickets with a $12 fee each, I can see it making better sense to spend an hour and go to the venue, but if you are buying 2 tickets and having to drive for a hour, park and stand in line, is it really worth it?

Throughout all this, the college crowd consistently bought without complaint. That has changed since Christmas. Now, the college kids are trying to beat the $6-8 ticket fees.

Concert sales in the Northeast and California almost always sold out, but now California is beginning to soften, especially with the younger crowd. The deterioration has been slow, but constant for a year and I don’t see any signs of improvement.

Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly did a show at Westbury in January. So did Bill Maher. Westbury is on Long Island and the theatre is small, perhaps 3000 seats. It is theatre in the round and sometimes they run it as half round.

The Beck/O’reilly show started out 1/2 round and sold out in minutes. People called for hours wanting tickets. Then Westbury decided to go full round the next day and the rest sold out within an hour. People called for weeks wanting tickets.

On the other hand, the Bill Maher show only sold about 70% of the 1/2 round at Westbury. The show sold so poorly that they closed the back seats and moved people forward to make it look better.

I sell Westbury all the time. Most of the people that call me are older, retired, and almost all have American Express cards and AOL e-mail addresses.

I would have thought that the results would have been that Bill Maher would have sold out and the Beck/O’Reilly concert not sold out. I was just amazed.

Keep up the good work.

“Ticket Salesman”

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Here is an interesting Email from “Ticket Salesman”, a former CEO of an industrial supply company who saw the debacle coming and cashed out a few years back. To keep busy, not out of necessity, he is now involved in concert ticket sales.

“Ticket Salesman” writes:

Hi Mish

I don’t care what the media says, the economy is getting worse and I can see it in ticket sales and even questions about tickets.

Last February, most of my ticket sales were requesting “Best available” and big concerts sold out within days or weeks, typically a month or more before the concert. Concerts sold out from the front (highest ticket price) to the back.

By mid summer, I began to notice that the buying was changing. Concerts sold from the front and from the back but the middle seats were selling last. I have only voices to gauge age but it seems to me that the 40-55 crowd had begun to disappear.

By early fall, the cheap seats were selling out first. This pattern started first in Chicago, spread throughout the midwest, then over to the Carolinas, south to Florida and across to Arizona.

Since December, the most often question that I get is “If I buy at the venue, do I have to pay the service charge?”

Ticket agents charge a ticket fee of 10-15% on each ticket and a year ago I never had a single complaint or a question about the ticket fee.

If you are buying 6 tickets with a $12 fee each, I can see it making better sense to spend an hour and go to the venue, but if you are buying 2 tickets and having to drive for a hour, park and stand in line, is it really worth it?

Throughout all this, the college crowd consistently bought without complaint. That has changed since Christmas. Now, the college kids are trying to beat the $6-8 ticket fees.

Concert sales in the Northeast and California almost always sold out, but now California is beginning to soften, especially with the younger crowd. The deterioration has been slow, but constant for a year and I don’t see any signs of improvement.

Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly did a show at Westbury in January. So did Bill Maher. Westbury is on Long Island and the theatre is small, perhaps 3000 seats. It is theatre in the round and sometimes they run it as half round.

The Beck/O’reilly show started out 1/2 round and sold out in minutes. People called for hours wanting tickets. Then Westbury decided to go full round the next day and the rest sold out within an hour. People called for weeks wanting tickets.

On the other hand, the Bill Maher show only sold about 70% of the 1/2 round at Westbury. The show sold so poorly that they closed the back seats and moved people forward to make it look better.

I sell Westbury all the time. Most of the people that call me are older, retired, and almost all have American Express cards and AOL e-mail addresses.

I would have thought that the results would have been that Bill Maher would have sold out and the Beck/O’Reilly concert not sold out. I was just amazed.

Keep up the good work.

“Ticket Salesman”

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Take a 500 horsepower V-10 engine and unrestrict the exhaust system you’ve got automotive music. The second installment in the Best Exhaust Sounds series was brought to my attention by an associate of VS Motorsports in Schaumburg, IL.

If you like the responsiveness of a normally aspirated engine in a practical 4-door sedan with excellent handling, buy one soon. BMW will be replacing the V-10 with a twin turbocharged V-8 due to emission and mileage goals. Albeit quicker with more horsepower and a likely dual clutch transmission vs. the somewhat jerky single clutch automated manual.

The predicted replacement engine, already in the X5M, is a 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 currently producing 555hp and 500ft lbs of torque. I would be very curious to know if this engine weighs more than the current V-10. Also, the turbos are in the “V” on the top of the engine along with the exhaust ports and the intakes on the bottom/outside. Just the opposite of virtually every other V-bank engine. It will be interesting to see this radical design is incorporated into a serious performance sedan.

This BMW sounds extraordinary. Imagine while “under load” how it sounds. Check out this video of an accelerating M5 and see if you like it. Link to Evosport website.

What is your favorite exhaust sound? Have a question about cars you would like answered? Want to know about performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!

performance · cars · Ask Rob About Cars · BMW

Take a 500 horsepower V-10 engine and unrestrict the exhaust system you’ve got automotive music. The second installment in the Best Exhaust Sounds series was brought to my attention by an associate of VS Motorsports in Schaumburg, IL.

If you like the responsiveness of a normally aspirated engine in a practical 4-door sedan with excellent handling, buy one soon. BMW will be replacing the V-10 with a twin turbocharged V-8 due to emission and mileage goals. Albeit quicker with more horsepower and a likely dual clutch transmission vs. the somewhat jerky single clutch automated manual.

The predicted replacement engine, already in the X5M, is a 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 currently producing 555hp and 500ft lbs of torque. I would be very curious to know if this engine weighs more than the current V-10. Also, the turbos are in the “V” on the top of the engine along with the exhaust ports and the intakes on the bottom/outside. Just the opposite of virtually every other V-bank engine. It will be interesting to see this radical design is incorporated into a serious performance sedan.

This BMW sounds extraordinary. Imagine while “under load” how it sounds. Check out this video of an accelerating M5 and see if you like it. Link to Evosport website.

What is your favorite exhaust sound? Have a question about cars you would like answered? Want to know about performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!

performance · cars · Ask Rob About Cars · BMW

Take a 500 horsepower V-10 engine and unrestrict the exhaust system you’ve got automotive music. The second installment in the Best Exhaust Sounds series was brought to my attention by an associate of VS Motorsports in Schaumburg, IL.

If you like the responsiveness of a normally aspirated engine in a practical 4-door sedan with excellent handling, buy one soon. BMW will be replacing the V-10 with a twin turbocharged V-8 due to emission and mileage goals. Albeit quicker with more horsepower and a likely dual clutch transmission vs. the somewhat jerky single clutch automated manual.

The predicted replacement engine, already in the X5M, is a 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 currently producing 555hp and 500ft lbs of torque. I would be very curious to know if this engine weighs more than the current V-10. Also, the turbos are in the “V” on the top of the engine along with the exhaust ports and the intakes on the bottom/outside. Just the opposite of virtually every other V-bank engine. It will be interesting to see this radical design is incorporated into a serious performance sedan.

This BMW sounds extraordinary. Imagine while “under load” how it sounds. Check out this video of an accelerating M5 and see if you like it. Link to Evosport website.

What is your favorite exhaust sound? Have a question about cars you would like answered? Want to know about performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!

performance · cars · Ask Rob About Cars · BMW

Take a 500 horsepower V-10 engine and unrestrict the exhaust system you’ve got automotive music. The second installment in the Best Exhaust Sounds series was brought to my attention by an associate of VS Motorsports in Schaumburg, IL.

If you like the responsiveness of a normally aspirated engine in a practical 4-door sedan with excellent handling, buy one soon. BMW will be replacing the V-10 with a twin turbocharged V-8 due to emission and mileage goals. Albeit quicker with more horsepower and a likely dual clutch transmission vs. the somewhat jerky single clutch automated manual.

The predicted replacement engine, already in the X5M, is a 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 currently producing 555hp and 500ft lbs of torque. I would be very curious to know if this engine weighs more than the current V-10. Also, the turbos are in the “V” on the top of the engine along with the exhaust ports and the intakes on the bottom/outside. Just the opposite of virtually every other V-bank engine. It will be interesting to see this radical design is incorporated into a serious performance sedan.

This BMW sounds extraordinary. Imagine while “under load” how it sounds. Check out this video of an accelerating M5 and see if you like it. Link to Evosport website.

What is your favorite exhaust sound? Have a question about cars you would like answered? Want to know about performance, racing, modifying, shopping, makes, models, events, etc? Ask me here: AskRobAboutCars@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer your question and publish it here on Examiner.com!

performance · cars · Ask Rob About Cars · BMW

Here is a wrapup of some city and state budget problems posted in various places today. The wrapup culminates with a link to an online form where you can suggest budget solutions for Illinois.

Situations like those appearing below are currently taking place in every city, county, and state in the nation. Individually, the job cuts and problems may seem small, but the cumulative impact, along with the tax hikes that are coming will be enormous.

Nevada
Gaming industry refuses to pay more to help solve state budget crisis

The Nevada Resort Association announced Thursday night that the gaming industry won’t agree to a Democratic plan to obtain $32 million more a year from casinos to help balance the state budget.

If Democrats can’t get the casinos to agree to cough up more revenue, it puts in jeopardy their whole budget-balancing plan that attempts to avoid deep cuts in education and social services.

Key Republicans have said they won’t support any revenue-raising plan that the target industry doesn’t accept.

Las Vegas
Las Vegas city budget woes: 170 jobs on the line

Thursday was a difficult day at City Hall. About 170 workers are being told their jobs are on the line.

Those layoffs are the result of a multi-million dollar budget shortfall. But Mayor Oscar Goodman says it doesn’t have to be this way. He wants all city workers to give up a little to save a lot.

The bad news was laid out by City Manager Betsy Fretwell and Goodman. A looming $70 million deficit means services and jobs are about to be cut unless the four major unions involved in city government agree to help out.

“We would much prefer everybody be a little bit altruistic, little bit caring about fellow workers. And if they did what we’re proposing, after all the cuts we’ve made, if they take and eight percent reduction in salary then nobody’s going to lose their job,” said Mayor Goodman.

Goodman says right now the city is in negotiations with the fire department only. The other union contracts, such as for marshals and corrections workers, aren’t up.

The city should privatize the entire fire department. That would end the problem in one simple step.

Peach County Georgia
Can a Four-Day School Week Work?

Like every school district in Georgia, Peach County was forced to cut their budget by 3-percent. Clark says she had only two choices that could save that kind of money: lay off 39 teachers, eliminating every art, music, and PE class -OR-something never seen before in Georgia, go to a four-day school week.

Teachers now work four 10-hour days. The day for students is slightly longer than an average 5-day school day, but there’s no down time. Non-instructional parts of the day have been cut out. Individual tutoring is widely attended before and after class. The number of instructional minutes for students is the same, in some cases even higher, than it used to be.

On Mondays, the schools close. Finding daycare was a big concern for critics of the plan. Clark responded, “The mission of this school district is not to provide daycare. The mission of this school district is to provide students with an education. And while we have had the luxury of providing daycare for the community five days a week, we don’t have that luxury anymore.”

Rhode Island
Plan to fire teachers roils RI’s poorest city

The blue-and-white banner exclaiming “anticipation” on the front of Central Falls High School seems like a cruel joke for an institution so chronically troubled that its leaders decided to fire every teacher by year’s end.

No more than half those instructors would be hired back under a federal option that has enraged the state’s powerful teachers union, earned criticism from students, and brought praise from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and some parents.

The shake-up comes as Rhode Island’s new education commissioner, Deborah Gist, pushes the state to compete for millions of dollars in federal funding to reform the worst 5 percent of its schools, including in Central Falls. State law requires schools to warn teachers by March 1 if their jobs are in jeopardy for the following school year.

To get the money, schools must choose one of four paths set under federal law, including mass firings. Gallo has said she initially hope to avoid layoffs by adopting a plan that would have lengthened the school day and required teachers to get additional training and offer more after-school tutoring.

The U.S. Department of Education does not play a role in deciding which model schools choose and did not know Wednesday whether Central Falls was the first to opt to get rid of its teachers, said Sandra Abrevaya, a department spokeswoman.

The decision won praise from Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, a former math teacher who supports Gist.

This was the correct decision. Now those 50% (minimum) of the teachers who are out of a job, can ponder the loss of their $78,000 over refusal to work another 35 minutes a day. The only thing surprising about the result is the support from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Mesa Arizona
Mesa budget woes deepen; new deficit now $19.6 million

Mesa’s City Council learned Thursday morning they will have to slash spending by another $19.6 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

City Manager Chris Brady said while collections for this fiscal year have fallen about $16.4 million short of projections, there’s enough money
in the bank to avoid further budget cuts between now and June 30.

A year ago, for example, when the city imposed an emergency spending reduction of $61 million, some departments, such as parks, saw their budgets sliced by 30 percent. Police and fire spending were reduced 5-7 percent.

That’s an amazing display of denial by City Manager Chris Brady, waiting until more funds are depleted to act, and ignoring the fire department totally. It gets worse: Mesa to offer free all-day kindergarten despite budget woes.

Carbondale Illinois
Illinois budget problems felt at local dentist office

What happens if the boss cannot afford to pay you for a full week’s work?

In most instances either you work a few days for nothing, or you do what many places have been forced to do during hard times, such as one Carbondale dentists’ office.

It has become another victim of Illinois’s $13 billion dollar budget crisis. Recently staff members held their breath as they opened an e-mail from the chief executive officer.

“I am hoping we’ll be able to eliminate this uncertainty considering furlough days in the near future. But at least we can extend the delay for another two weeks,” Shawnee Health Care Chief Executive Officer, Patsy Jensen said as she read from a recently sent email.

Some 350 employees received that email. The subject is furlough days. Jensen says she started these emails back in December. “If we can’t meet our payroll demands then we are going to ask our staff to take one day off a week,” Jensen said.

Shawnee Health Care has clinics in Carbondale, Marion, and Murphysboro. At the Carbondale clinic, nearly 80% of dental patients are on Medicaid. In Illinois, the state must match 50% of Medicaid dollars. However, Jensen says due to Medicaid payments delays, many area dentists don’t accept the program.

“We’re at a minimum 90 days out,” Jensen said about state Medicaid payments.

Island County Washington
Island County’s 5-year budget projection is dismal

The Island County budget director recently presented commissioners with a worrisome five-year budget projection that shows reserve funds dwindling to levels that could create cash flow problems in just a year or two.

“Island County is at a critical juncture. We have prided ourselves on having the lowest tax rate in the state for years, now we’re suffering the consequences of having the lowest tax rate. Do we want to continue with that?” Commissioner Helen Price Johnson asked at a Monday morning roundtable meeting with elected officials and department heads.

Over the last year and a half, county commissioners have dealt with $5.2 million in budget shortfalls — about a quarter of the current expense fund — largely by cutting staff and dipping into reserve funds. More than 55 positions have been cut. The budget is balanced for now, but the pain may not be over.

Budget Director Elaine Marlow created two five-year budget projections. They both estimate a low-level increase in revenues from taxes, fees and other sources. One estimates a 2 percent overall increase in expenses from salary, bases and benefits, while the other estimates twice that. Both estimates assume that staff levels won’t increase and employees will not receive cost-of-living increases.

Marlow projects that costs will significantly outweigh revenues in either scenario. Next year, she predicts the budget will be out of whack by more than $800,000. The deficit each year will slowly shrink as the economy recovers. By 2015, the projection shows the deficit at $258,000.

The commissioners will have three basic choices: cut expenditures, use more unreserved funds or raise taxes.

California
California State Legislature Establishes ‘Cuss Free Week’

Californians had better start watching their mouths.

The state Assembly passed a resolution Thursday that would establish the first week of March as “Cuss Free Week” throughout the state. If approved by the Senate next week, the measure would take effect immediately.

The resolution includes no enforcement mechanism and is simply meant to promote greater harmony and connectedness, said Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Canada Flintridge and co-author of the measure.

California has serious pressing needs such as a $13 billion (and growing) budget deficit and they waste time on this nonsense.

If you were looking for more proof at how dysfunctional California is, there you have it. Of course with California, additional proof is offered every day of the week.

Illinois
Illinois’ budget problems, plans are online for everyone to see

The state of Illinois wants you to see its budget problems with your own eyes.

Budget numbers for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, as well as an estimated budget for fiscal year 2011 are now posted online at budget.illinois.gov

Suggest a Budget Solution

This is may not do much good but it sure can’t hurt. Please Suggest a Budget Solution for Illinois.

Ideas To Consider

• Lower salaries for Illinois House and Senate members
• Reduce staff for representatives
• Lower salaries for judges
• Lower salaries for all administrative positions especially educational
• Killing all defined benefit pension plans
• Insistence on no tax hikes
• Privatization
• Constitutional Convention to change union work rules and collective bargaining
• Help for cities by eliminating state mandates and work rules for police and fire departments
• Scrap state prevailing wage laws
• Ask Congress to scrap Davis-Bacon.

You may not be heard, but this is your chance to speak. Say something.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

In San Francisco, greedy public unions finally overplayed their hand. It’s happening all across the country actually, but every city, county, township thinks “It’s different here”.

The news of the day for unions and their sympathizers is the public is finally fed up being raped by public unions. The San Francisco Chronicle reports Outrage grows over Muni operators’ pay.

The city’s Muni operators are about to have one of those “uh-oh” moments. You know, that awkward instant when a group realizes that it overplayed its hand – badly.

Even in San Francisco, a union town where labor issues are treated with kid gloves, politicians and transit riders are teeing off on the drivers like they stole rent money from little old ladies.

“There is no question in my mind that they completely misread the public,” Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “Either they step up or the people of San Francisco will.”

Friday, the Municipal Transportation Agency will vote on ways to balance its budget.

Riders have already seen fare hikes and service cuts and they may face them again thanks to Muni operators who rejected a proposal for a package of concessions that would have saved the agency $15 million over two years. Those savings could have temporarily reduced service cuts and some fee hikes.

But 575 operators voted in favor of the concessions and 857 were against the plan even though Muni operators are guaranteed an 8 percent raise. Their pay, protected by the city charter, ensures they are at least the second-highest paid operators in the nation.

Cue the torches and pitchforks, the local populace is enraged. This may be about pension plans and compensation concessions in City Hall, but for long-suffering Muni riders, it tapped into the anger of every time a bus door was slammed in their face or every driver who snarled a response to a question. So while union officials were chanting, “No givebacks! No concessions!” they were winning the economic battle and losing the public relations war.

“There has been this huge level of outrage,” said Drew Hoolhorst, whose anti-Muni rant in his blog, “Rocket Shoes,” has been getting a huge response. “This is real anger.”

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd said he plans to gather the 60,000 signatures needed to put a charter amendment on the November ballot that would have pay, benefits and work rules negotiated through collective bargaining. Elsbernd pulled the amendment in hopes the union would approve the concessions, but he says all bets are off since the proposal was rebuffed.

“I am going forward with the petition regardless if they vote again. That’s a lot of signatures, but if ever there was an issue when you could bet on it, this is it,” Elsbernd said.

Rocket Shoes’ Message To San Francisco Muni Workers

Warning… This contains harsh language.

Inquiring minds just might be interested in the message “Rocket Shoes Open Letter To SF Muni“

Dear SF Muni,
**** you.
Let me start over.
**** you.

I’m done with your lies.

You show up late. When you do show up, you’re a total *******. Your driver acts like it’s a serious inconvenience that I’ve burdened him with the “driving people around in a bus” part of his “driving people around in a bus” part of his job. …

Union Greed Nothing Short Of Amazing

It is hard to be surprised by union greed, but rejecting an 8% pay raise with a contract that guarantees they get the second highest pay in the nation, sets a new standard for public union greed and arrogance.

That aside, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd is making a major mistake. The only thing unions understand is total and complete annihilation. Moreover, what the union fully deserves is complete annihilation.

The union pests need to be treated like the termites they are. Thus Elsbernd should be gathering signatures to completely privatize the transportation system.

Negotiation with unions as with termites, simply does not work. Extermination is the only solution. Unfortunately, termites are a much easier problem to deal with.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.
Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.